The Silver Dollar Club and 113-year-old hotel may be replaced by 20-storey tower with a resurrected blues club on the ground floor.

James Earl Ray is said to have stayed at the Hotel Waverly and spent time drinking at the Silver Dollar while on the run after assassinating Martin Luther King in 1968. Bob Dylan, Levon Helm played impromptu shows at the blues bar. The hotel and blues club could become a thing of the past if approval is given to build a 20-storey student housing unit on the site.

The Silver Dollar Club was a place anyone could go to blend in with the crowd and take in some of the world’s best “never-heard-of” blues acts.

Or, in the case of James Earl Ray: to hide from the law.

Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, is said to have spent his days on the run drinking at the bar while holed up at the Hotel Waverly, on Spadina Ave. near College St.

The People’s Poet, Milton Acorn, lived in the hotel in the 1970s, penning some of his most acclaimed work.

Bob Dylan and Levon Helm both graced the stage unannounced in the club’s 55-year storied history — Canadian icons The Barenaked Ladies and Blue Rodeo, too.

Even when it was a strip club for a brief period in the 1970s, dancers there performed to a live blues band.

The 113-year-old hotel and bar property, however, has seen better days. If they get approval, its owners plan to tear down the low-rent residential hotel and build a 20-storey student housing complex, with the Silver Dollar reopening on the first floor.

“You can’t re-create flavour, but you can try,” said building owner Paul Wynn. “It won’t be the same, but we’re hoping it’ll be better.”

Having spent time working for a film company in the 1980s and travelling in Europe, staying in hostels, he dreamt of a similar life for the hotel when he purchased it upon returning to Canada.

It never worked out.

“People weren’t backpacking through Canada the same way they were in Europe,” he said.

A wooden structure that was built “piecemeal,” said Wynn, the hotel building is “rotted out.”

Renovation wouldn’t be economical, added Wynn, now owner of The Wynn Group. “It’s always been added on, before there was any building code,” he said.

“I’ve lived with it for 20 years, trying to figure out what to do with it. We’re taking a very logical approach to it.”

A building that would offer 200-plus units for students — to help with the growing need for rental units for students at the nearby University of Toronto campus — made the most sense.

When his daughter needed an affordable place to live near the university, Wynn said it was impossible to find — not even in his own rental units could he find a four-bedroom apartment for her and three roommates.

But losing the hotel will leave others in the lurch, said manager Kuma Nava, who has run it for 22 years. While some of the tenants are temporary, a half-dozen seniors have lived there for more than 15 years — some even longer.

“They’re very angry,” he said. “They don’t want to lose their home.”

The low- to mid-rise neighbourhood has come under increasing development pressure in recent years.

Last year, the city turned down a proposed 24-storey student residence just east on College St., after neighbourhood organizations mounted a vocal opposition. Residents compared plans for the privately run residence, which would include 759 bedrooms but no kitchens, to a massive rooming house.

But the city said such a building couldn’t be considered a rooming house — a designation limited to 25 units — and there is no bylaw to regulate a building of that type and size. Residents also argued the scale was out of keeping with the low-rise nature of the neighbourhood.

The developer, Knightstone Capital Management, appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, which is scheduled to hear the case next month. In the meantime, Knightsbridge acquired an adjacent property on College St. and added another storey, and 100 more units, to the original application.

The city is considering another proposal to build a 19-storey highrise just a few doors east on College.

Wynn said his plan is to have units that include a common living room and kitchen area with four bedrooms, each with their own private bathroom.

Nava said residents, including himself, don’t want large buildings in the area, especially with a school nearby that could be overshadowed by the structure.

“They’ve tried before and I don’t think they get what they want,” he added.

With files from Patty Winsa

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